AHOY there matey! Get your pieces of eight ready for a raucous night of rum and sea shanties.

Swarthy sea dogs Galleon Blast return to The Met in Bury to perform traditional tunes and seafaring classics from the likes of The Dubliners, The Waterboys, Thin Lizzy, Port Isaac's Fisherman’s Friends and Ewan MacColl.

The seven-piece folk rock band, featuring Bolton’s very own (pirate) DJ Mark Radcliffe, along with members of The Family Mahone, Full House and Foes, will be getting out their banjos, whistles, accordions and fiddles before delving into Davy Jones’ locker for sing-a-long classics.

Mark, who presents shows on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 6, is known for his love of music and has been in a number of bands throughout his life — but he can thank his beloved wife Bella for the idea behind Galleon Blast.

Mark said: “I love the pirate theme. The idea for it actually came by accident. My wife is called Bella and for her 40th birthday I arranged a pop festival called Glaston-Bella, and Galleon Blast is made up of those letters. Elbow played there too, it was great fun.

“Not long after I saw this amazing ship and thought that pirate music would be really good with a name like Galleon Blast. At the time I was in another band which was a bit downbeat and people were asking us if we could play a festival, but we thought the pirate band would be much more suitable.”

Mark describes the band as “fun to watch” – hopes that those who attend the gig are suitably dressed for the occasion.

He said: “We all get dressed up as pirates and we encourage the audience to dress up as buccaneers. It’s a really fun night out.

“We’ll be playing a load of classics like Dirty Old Town and Irish Rover, but also some of our own songs which are all really good to dance along to. Initially it was a standing gig but I said, if we’re not standing we can’t expect the audience to. Hopefully though they’ll be up on their feet dancing anyway.”

The band played a sterling slot at last year’s Ramsbottom Festival — and cannot wait to return to Bury on Saturday.

Mark said: “The Met is a fantastic venue. They do the Homegrown Music Festival too and really put a lot of effort and care into their booking policy to make sure there is a great variety of artists that play there. The Met is a great asset to the cultural life of the north.”

Tickets for Galleon Blast are £12 and can be bought from themet.biz or by calling 0161 761 2216.